25 May 2012

Acquisitive Croma raises £0.9m

09/02/2006 Robert Tyerman

Surveillance and security specialist Croma has raised £900,000 at 5p to help fund a new acquisition in the biometrics field.

AIM-quoted Croma, headed by expansive entrepreneur John French, has won new backing from institutions, including Artemis, for this latest placing, which will support the next stage of the company's current acquisition push. Only the other day, Hereford-based Croma agreed to pay an initial £804,000 for ex-military staffed asset protection concern Vigilant, part paid for with shares valued at a premium price of 6.5p.

There is more to come. French says the company is already looking at 'other tactical acquisitions, maybe including something really sizeable.’

'We are raising our sights,' proclaims French, who says his eventual goal is to make Croma a 'one-stop shop' in the overt and covert security, surveillance and defence fields. This takeover trail is proving costly – Croma's £972,000 losses last year were swollen by £202,000 of goodwill amortisations – but so far French continues to find institutional backing.

At 5.25p, valuing the company at £5.3 million, Croma's shares have risen 60 per cent since Growth Company Investor noted their speculative recovery potential last October, but remain below last February's 7.87p peak. Hold on.

Sector: Software & Computer Services

Companies: Croma Security Solutions

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